"We extend our condolences to the family of the member of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission who was killed due to a possible landmine explosion during a patrol in Luhansk region in Ukraine yesterday," Dujarric stated. "We urge the parties to enable conditions for an investigation into the incident and call for the accountability of those responsible."
On Sunday, law enforcement officials of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) said the explosion hit the observers' car near the Pryshyb settlement in the Lugansk region and, as a result, one SMM member was killed. Later in the day, OSCE Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug confirmed the explosion, adding that the blast killed a US citizen and injured two more people from Germany and the Czech Republic.
Ukraine's southeast has been engulfed in a conflict since April 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation to suppress local militias. The OSCE mission was deployed to monitor a ceasefire between the parties.
Kiev and the local militias have accused each other of violating the Minsk truce deal signed in February 2015.
